Mothers
by mushi6618
Summary: How can I explain what it's like? Point of View from the Beldam.


Disclaimer: I do not own, do not sue. Point of View from the Beldam.

...

_In Other World_

...

How can I explain what it's like? For starters you never have to blink, nor can you for that matter. Always your eyes are open to see the world. Rest doesn't come for creatures like me, not even in death. My own mother was the one to sew these blasted buttons into my eyes. Don't get me wrong I loved my mother; she was the one that taught me all that I now know. But it was my mother that condemned me when I couldn't have any children of my own.

"How will our race survive?" She'd yell at me.

But there was nothing I could do; I was too thin and lanky. Sure I could change my form, after all I inherited my mother's trade, but like her I could never hold it. The spells and webs were designed to trap, but they weren't real. Ages passed and my mother's anger only grew, for she could no longer have children of her own. The family line was dead with me. Each day I was reminded of my flaws. Well, till the day I decided to end it.

No, I didn't kill myself. I killed my mother. But it was much harder than I had anticipated, for she came back to life. The second time I made sure she was dead by ripping out her life essence, her two big black button eyes. I buried her body in a sack made of my own silk web and tossed all her oddities out of my home. She was rather fond of candy, which was the theme of her trap. She would spin a whole world made of chocolate and sugar. Suffice to say she had kept us both fed rather well. Eyes were so delicious; they held the souls that my kind fed off of. The only problem was when we got to many spirits, which we had to destroy when they became abundant. My trap had always been puppets and dolls. Puppets that did whatever I told them to do.

Well, sometimes they didn't listen.

Still, it was one of the talents that my mother approved of. Creating living puppets was one of the hardest skills to master, and I was an expert, though I had a few lapses. Some of my puppets thought for themselves, or they didn't always listen, and sometimes they said just a bit too much. But that was fine, because all I'd have to do was change them; if only I had the energy.

When I first created my new home it had taken a lot out of me. I chose the smallest door to create my portal and waited. Watching the strange creatures called humans move and fuss about. A house was being built in the middle of a field of flowers. A young man had opened it, my little door, but he didn't come through.

Instead, my first victim was a butterfly.

After entering my domain the butterfly tried to leave, but I worked my magic. In an instant the small insect became large its body changing shape without a cocoon. Soon a young girl stood in my wake; the child had huge eyes, butterfly wings, and a set of antennae.

"What happened? Who are you?"

"Why my dear girl, I'm your other mother."

The child smiled and I felt warmth spread through my insides. With my button eyes shining, I gave the girl a tour of my world, tending to her every wish. After some time, however, I began to feel hungry. The butterfly child looked so lovely; maybe just one eye? No I couldn't, this was my daughter I was thinking of eating. But as time passed the hunger grew, till finally one day my butterfly daughter asked if she too could have buttons for eyes. So I gave them to her.

With my stomach full I mourned the loss of my child. I couldn't cry, but I held tight to the corpse in my arms. I had known what happened. Only my own offspring could live after they'd had their buttons sewn in, for without them my kind had no soul. However, trying to sew buttons into a being that already has a soul, forces that soul out and only a husk is left. The girl's spirit was left behind. I couldn't bear to see it, so I locked it away in a mirror.

A century flew by and my hunger came back. The house had been finished, but the door was locked. The only thing I could do was fiddle with the key. I managed to make the one end look like a button. A rich couple had moved in along with their three sons. The youngest found no pleasure in the great many of his things. A spoiled little tot who despised his governess. I watched him through the button eyes of a doll he'd always carried around.

One day a servant unlocked the door to my world and forgot to relock it. The youngest son found my passage way and with him came the hope I'd lost. Maybe this time I would be a proper mother. I'd taken the form of his own mother, created his siblings, father, servants, and governess. I attended to his every wish and showed him wonders. But it wasn't enough for the boy and I found myself once again growing weak with hunger.

I didn't feel so guilty this time though, when I asked him to stay in my world. It didn't even bother me when I scooped out his eyes, sewed his sockets shut, and sewed on a pair of dark blue buttons. The child's body only lasted a few hours before its spirit left and it shriveled up, turning to dust. I didn't cry. But this time I heard the mother, father, siblings, servants, and even the despised governess wail when the young boy never returned. My body felt cold even though my stomach was once again full.

How I longed to be a real mother.

After that I left the inhabitants of the house alone to sulk in my grief. I spent time creating new dolls and ideas, anything to keep my mind off the two spirits that dwelled within my closet mirror. Unfortunately, by doing so I used up too much of my energy and found myself spying on the new family that lived in the house. I had heard talk of a recent renovation and how the house was now split up. It was only my luck that the family that moved in happened to have two small children.

Identical twins were foreign words to me but I didn't think that the two girls were identical. They didn't look the same nor did their personality's compare. The one girl was always out of the house and had made friends rather quick. This made her sister upset. I watched the two very closely and decided that the girl who stayed inside was the one I should take. My stomach growled at the thought.

It had taken some time, but I realized I could touch some of the things in that world. Not directly, of course, but just enough so that the girl found her way to the portal. Changing my tactics I let the girl leave after our first encounter, but she was back for a second. It was almost like playing a game. After the third visit the girl must have realized something was wrong and tried to leave. But I was much slicker than any young child; convincing the girl that the only way to return home was with buttons on her eyes.

By now I no longer felt any remorse towards what I was doing. I only felt empty, like my purpose in life hadn't yet become complete. I watched the other girl grow up without her sister. She married and moved out. My part of the house became empty and stayed that way for quite some time.

Then a new family moved in…

...and I met Coraline.


End file.
